Born A'Sharad Hett, Krayt was once a great Jedi during the Clone Wars before embracing the Dark Side during the Empire's reign. He gathered forces on the Sith homeworld of Korriban and created a new Sith Order, the One Sith, where all Sith are united against their enemies under one name. He had his underlings sabotage the union of the Fel Empire and the Jedi Order and successfully took control of the Fel Empire, becoming Emperor of a new Sith Empire.

Origin

Born and raised among the Tusken Raiders on Tatooine, A'Sharad Hett trained in the ways of the Force with his father, Sharad Hett, until his father was killed by the bounty hunter Aurra Sing. He was trained for a time by Ki-Adi-Mundi, but after his confrontation with Aurra Sing, A'Sharad Hett decided to train under The Dark Woman, Sing's former master. During the Clone Wars, A'Sharad served as a General for the Galactic Republic, and commanded a Jedi starfighter during the Battle of Geonosis. After Obi-Wan Kenobi's presumed death during the Second Battle of Jabiim, Hett befriended the young Jedi Anakin Skywalker who, after the apparent death of Obi-Wan Kenobi, needed a companion.

Hett with his former Master, Ki-Adi-Mundi.

Soon after the Clone Wars ended, Emperor Palpatine issued the command, Order 66, commanding the clones to assassinate their Jedi Generals. A'Sharad managed to survive the order, and made his way back to his homeworld, Tatooine. He became a Tusken warlord, leading his people to reclaim their lands from settlers. Hett's plans were stopped by his former comrade, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and after being exiled from Tatooine, Hett became a bounty hunter.

After chasing down a bounty on the planet, Korriban, Hett discovered the holocron of the Sith Lord, XoXann, and learned the dark side of the Force from her in order to defeat Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. However, when Hett completed his training, he soon learned that some time has passed and that Vader and Palpatine were defeated by Luke Skywalker. With no other purpose, Hett made his way to the Unknown Regions of the galaxy.

During his travels in the Unknown Regions, Hett came across the Yuuzhan Vong race and was captured. While captured, he tortured and experimented on, and injected with Vong growth implants. He later met the Fosh Jedi turned Sith, Vergere, who further allowed Hett to embrace the Dark side. He saw a vision of the new Sith Order, and when the time was right, Hett managed to escape the Yuuzhan Vong and made his way back to the Sith homeworld of Korriban, where he decided to go by the name of Darth Krayt. For years, Krayt built his vision of the Sith Order, waiting patiently before the chance to rule the galaxy was right.

Creation

A'Sharad was created by Timothy Truman in 1999, and first appeared in Star Wars: Republic #7.

Character Evolution

Under rigorous torture Krayt had a seed planted into him by the Yuuzhan Vong.

As a Jedi, A'Sharad followed the ways of the Jedi. When his father was killed by the bounty hunter, Aurra Sing, he wanted revenge. When the opportunity came, Hett chose not to give in revenge, and subdued her. The Jedi Master, The Dark Woman saw potential in him, and decided to train him. During The Clone Wars, A'Sharad met the young Jedi, Anakin Skywalker. Hett learned that Skywalker murdered a Tusken Raider tribe that killed his mother, but instead of telling the Jedi Council of this, he kept it to himself, a decision he would regret later in life. After the Clone Wars, A'Sharad slowly started to embrace the Dark side, slowly losing his purpose in life. It wasn't till he was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong and influenced by Vergere that he saw a vision of his ideal Sith Order, the One Sith, and finally found a purpose again. After escaping the Yuuzhan Vong, Hett renamed himself, Darth Krayt, and slowly started his Sith Order.

Major Story Arcs

The Hunt For Aurra Sing

Enemy Lines

A'Sharad joined the Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker after the latter's battle on Jabiim. Both Hett and Skywalker were assigned to tend to the wounded a the Republic military hospital. While tending to the dying Jedi master, Sora Mobari, Anakin used the Force to massage her heart, trying to bring her back life, however, his attempts only increased her pain and ended up killing her. A'Sharad confronted Anakin about this, and realized that Anakin was having a difficult time accepting that death was a natural state of life, and essentially, the Force. Hett took Anakin to a monument near the hospital, which was dedicated to all fallen Jedi. Hett showed Anakin how to use the memory moth to remember the names of the fallen, giving Anakin closure over the many friends he lost in Jabiim.

Becoming "Krayt".

Later, A'Sharad, and Anakin was joined by Hett's Padawan, Bhat Jul, leading the defense of Aargonar, but was shot down in enemy territories. Hett and Skywalker managed to survive the crash, but Hett's Padawan, Jul, did not. While the two made their way back into the Republic territory, Hett made similarities towards Skywalker and himself, but was unaware of the hatred Skywalker had for Tuskens, and took it as an insult. During a skirmish with enemy troops, Skywalker imagined them being Tuskens, and in his anger, he attacked Hett, but Hett managed to subdue the young Padawan. Anakin later confessed to Hett regarding his actions on Tatooine, where he slaughtered a Tusken Raider village in revenge for killing his mother. In an attempt to erase the misunderstanding and anger from Anakin, Hett removed his Tusken clothing and revealed himself to be Human just like Anakin. Hett told Skywalker that he would keep his secret. Hett also discarded his Tusken mask to be simply a Jedi, rather than Human or Tusken.

Broken

More than 100 years after Battle of Yavin, the chance for Darth Krayt to take over the galaxy arrived around the year 127-130 ABY in the Sith-Imperial War. Darth Krayt joined forces with Emperor Roan Fel, to overthrow the Galactic Alliance. Krayt sabotaged the Jedi Ossus Project that was originally intended to use Yuuzhan Vong terraforming techniques to restore planets that were devastated in the Yuuzhan Vong war. Krayt's follower, Darth Maladi was an expert in Vong bio-forms, and she coupled this knowledge with her understanding of the dark side to mutate the Vong's efforts.

On every world on which the Vong had carried out their work, the vegetation withered, and bony growths—like those once seen on those the Vong had taken as slaves during their invasion began forming on the skin of the inhabitants. The Jedi immediately suspected sabotage, but could never prove it. The lingering resentment the galaxy felt towards the Vong, even decades after their defeat and exile, did Krayt's work for him, and soon the Vong were accused of trying to restart their genocidal crusade against the galaxy by other means.

After the Battle of Caamas that ended in the Galactic Alliance's defeat, the Galactic Alliance was forced to surrender. Krayt then sent Sith Lords to the Jedi temple on Ossus, leading to a massacre, along with the death of Kol Skywalker. Later, Krayt went to the planet Coruscant to claim the throne from Fel. Krayt killed Fel, along with his bodyguards and forced the Moff Council to serve him.

After he sent them away, he revealed to his trusted servant, Darth Wyyrlok that the "Emperor" was a fake and the real Emperor Fel escaped. Krayt was also plagued with his body beginning to fail him, due to the Vong implants. His condition kept at bay by healing trances and stasis chambers. He estimated that the Vong implants would consume him within a decade or two. However, he later sensed a disturbance in the Force by a young Jedi padawan who had used the Force to revive his master from the edge of death.

Krayt sitting upon the throne.

With the passage of seven years, Emperor Krayt's grip on the throne was still uncertain. Roan Fel remained at large, doing hit and run tactics, while The Galactic Alliance were slowly gathering strength. Krayt first went after Emperor Fel by sending one of his newest and most devoted hands, Darth Talon, on a mission to lure Fel out into the open by capturing his daughter, Princess Marasiah Fel. But Fel refused to take the bait; he had plans of his own. In fact, though Krayt did not know it yet, Fel had succeeded in reclaiming the historic fortress world of Bastion. Later, Krayt traveled to Korriban in an attempt to learn from past Sith Lords how to cheat death. Krayt activated the holocrons of Darth Bane, Darth Andeddu, and Darth Nihilus, and asked how he could prolong his life. However, The ancient Sith Lords criticized him. Bane criticized Krayt for not adhering to the Rule of Two, and Andeddu causing Krayt's armor to nearly consume him, The three ancient Sith Lords, declaring Krayt to be nothing but an impostor and his order a mockery of the Sith. Krayt's fear of his armor taking control of him nearly overcame him, but Krayt refused to accept it and claimed that he would fine another way.

When Darth Talon returned from her unsuccessful mission to capture Marasiah Fel on Vendaxa, she expected to be executed by Krayt for her failure. Krayt, however, forgave her when she informed him that one of the foes she faced there was a Skywalker. Musing that it was perhaps fate that had allowed the Skywalker lineage to continue, Krayt ordered Talon to find this Skywalker and bring him to Coruscant. Krayt hoped that this Skywalker's abilities would prove useful in his quest to prolong his life.

Claws of the Dragon

While meditating in the Temple of the Sith on Coruscant, Krayt sensed that Cade Skywalker was heading towards the temple to rescue the Jedi, Hosk Trey'lis. Krayt tasked his Hands, Darth Nihl and Darth Talon with capturing him, which they did.

Darth Krayt later came to oversee Cade's interrogation at the hands of Darth Maladi, and was astonished to see Cade's body had purged itself of the deadly substances Maladi had injected into his body. In order to witness his power, Krayt ordered Maladi to infect the recently captured Jariah Syn and Deliah Blue with deadly Yuuzhan Vong coral seeds. Cade saved his friends and made a deal with Krayt to remain with the Sith in exchange for his friends' freedom.

Krayt then took Cade to his chambers alongside Darth Talon and Darth Wyyrlok, leaving both Lady Maladi and Lord Nihl outside. There, Krayt gave food to Cade and revealed he had once been a Jedi, A'Sharad Hett. Krayt revealed his background, and how he became the Sith lord.

The duel on Tatooine.

After the Clone Wars, Krayt made his way back to his homeworld of Tatooine, becoming the leader of several Tusken clans, like his father had, conquering settlements. Krayt then reached the small moisture farm of Owen Lars, were he was confronted by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kenobi had noticed Hett's recent activities, and believed Hett was going towards the dark side. Kenobi pleaded with Krayt to stop his attacks, but Krayt refused. With no options left, both Jedi ignited their lightsabers and fought. The duel ended with the loss of Hett's right arm, along with the humiliation of having his mask removed. To the Tuskens, to expose any part of the flesh is forbidden, and with one hand, Hett could not hope to wield the traditional Tusken weapon, known as the gaffi stick.

Hett was now an outcast, and asked Kenobi to finish him off, but Kenobi would not kill him. Instead, he made Hett swear on the honor of his late father that he would leave Tatooine and never return, hoping that one day, Hett would see the error of his ways and again take up the Jedi way. Krayt then left Tatooine. It would be decades after that when Krayt learned that the moisture farm Kenobi had been protecting contained the son of Anakin Skywalker, along with the fact that Skywalker was the one who had destroyed the Jedi Order.

Following his departure from Tatooine, Krayt became a bounty hunter. While pursuing a bounty named Resk to the planet Korriban, a storm forced them down, and Krayt continued his pursuit of Resk. Krayt then killed him after Resk threatened to turn him over to the authorities when Krayt revealed himself to have been a Jedi. Later, Krayt heard a voice calling him. He discovered a glowing holocron that revealed to be the ancient Sith Lord XoXaan, and offered him the teachings of the Sith, and Krayt agreed to learn.

At first, Krayt wanted nothing more than to learn new abilities to take down Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, but he slowly was turning to the Dark side. When Krayt resurfaced from the tombs, he found out that a couple of decades went by, and that Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine were dead. Disillusioned yet again, Krayt left Korriban behind and made for the Unknown Regions.

In the Unknown Regions, Hett encountered the Yuuzhan Vong, and was taken captive. There, Krayt was implanted with Vong implants along with being put into the Embrace of Pain. It was also during his imprisonment that he met was met Vergere. Vergere taught him how to use his agony to open himself to the dark side. It was then when Krayt received his vision of his new Sith Order. Shortly after Vergere left him to join with the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Krayt escaped and destroyed the scout ship, and returned to Korriban. There, Krayt took the name Darth Krayt, after the fearsome krayt dragon of his homeworld, and reestablished The Sith, under the Rule of One, that one being the Sith Order itself, under which there would be many minions.

Krayt tells his story to a captured Cade Skywalker.

Skywalker was not impressed with Krayt's background, which angered Darth Talon, and attacked him, but Skywalker subdue her and nearly killed her. Krayt urged Skywalker to use his anger properly, focus it, let the Sith teachings help him to reach his full potential. Finally, Skywalker accepted what Krayt believed to be his destiny, and agreed to learn the ways of the Sith. Krayt commanded him to heal Talon, and that she would be his master. During Skywalker's training, Talon informed Krayt that he was only pretending to be like them but Krayt was confident that Skywalker would come to embrace the Sith way. He later placed Cade in the Embrace of Pain perhaps to ensure his conversion while telling him more of his own fall.

Not long after, Cade decided to make his move to rescue Hosk Trey'lis once again, but was quickly apprehended by Darth Talon. Cade was brought before Darth Krayt who, in front of his two Hands, ordered Skywalker to execute Hosk Trey'lis. Skywalker refused, and so Krayt executed him personally, in order to bring Skywalker closer to the Dark side. Cade broke the transparisteel casing around his father's lightsaber and used the weapon to impale Darth Talon. Skywalker then engaged Darth Nihl in a duel, while Darth Krayt stood back and observed.

When Cade succeeded in cutting off Nihl's right arm, Krayt commanded him to kill the Sith Lord. Skywalker refused and began a duel with the Dark Lord of the Sith. Krayt nearly succeeded in defeating Skywalker, when Skywalker's mother, Morrigan Corde, appeared from the window, and shot him in the back. With Cade successfully rescued, Krayt commanded his Sith servants to find him by any means necessary. Krayt ordered Maladi to replace Nihl's arm with a Vong one, and revokes his position as a Hand, calling Stryfe in his place. He also ordered Talon in a bacta tank. Krayt soon begin to weaken due to his fight with Krayt, and was placed in stasis.

Wrath of the Dragon

After Admiral Gar Stazi stole the new Advanced Star Destroyer, Imperious, during the battle against the Outer Rim Third Fleet, Emperor Krayt personally came to Dac to confront Gial Gahan, former Triumvir and supporter of the Galactic Alliance Remnant. Krayt, before Holonet droid cams, ordered his Sith Lords to execute the entire Mon Calamari Council, including those Quarren opposing his edict thus showing the galaxy the cost of betraying the Empire. He also issued the extermination of ten percent of the planet's Mon Calamari population and internment of the rest in work camps.

Vector

In the Sith lord palace, Darth Reave rushed to inform Darth Krayt of the attack on Had Abaddon by Cade Skywalker and his allies. During the skirmish, Reave saw his troops being transformed into rakghouls by a female Jedi, who used ancient Sith magic. Before he could finish his report, however, Reave himself transformed into a rakghoul and was quickly stricken down by Darth Stryfe. Krayt and his advisers were then interrupted by a transmission coming from Had Abaddon. Karness Muur was contacting Krayt under the guise of the Jedi woman and presented Krayt with none other than Cade Skywalker. Muur then issued an invitation to Krayt to claim Skywalker or he would die. Krayt accepted the invitation, and traveled to Had Abaddon with his followers, Darth Stryfe, Darth Maladi, and Darth Talon. Krayt hoped that along with capturing Skywalker once again, he could also harness the power of the Muur Talisman.

Krayt meets Celeste Morne.

When Krayt arrived at Had Abaddon, he met with Muur who was "controlling" Celeste Morne, however, it was revealed to be a trap, as Cade's allies attacked. During the fight, Krayt was stabbed in the right chest by Azlyn Rae from behind. Celeste Morne used that moment to strike him down with Force lightning (and inadvertently hitting Rae as well), throwing him off a cliff. Krayt survived by cushioning his fall with the Force, but was badly injured. He was soon located by approached by Darth Wyyrlok and asked to be taken to a bacta tank, but suddenly, Wyyrlok struck him with Force lightning, apparently killing Krayt. Wyyrlok then took his master's body to the shuttle. Afterwards, Wyyrlok then took control of the Sith order, by telling the other Sith that Krayt was badly wounded in his battle on Had Abaddon and place in stasis and said that his words were Krayt's in order to keep up the illusion that Krayt is still alive to the other Sith.

Extremes

Despite Wyyrlok's attempts, there were members in the Sith Order that did not believe that Darth Krayt was still alive, partially Darth Maladi and Darth Nihl. Darth Maladi suspected that Darth Krayt was killed by Darth Wyyrlok and suggested to Darth Nihl to go to Korriban to verify if Darth Krayt was truly alive. There, Darth Nihl saw Darth Talon protecting his chamber and told her that Darth Krayt summoned him in his mind. When the pair entered the stasis chamber, they were shocked to see that Darth Krayt's body was missing and all that remain was his armor.

Darth Nihl confronted Darth Wyyrlok about this matter and Wyyrlok made up a lie that someone has killed him and taken the body. Wyyrlok also told Darth Nihl to keep this matter a secret and appointed him as his adviser. Darth Nihl suspected that Darth Talon was responsible for this as she was guarding the chamber at the time and has gone missing. Darth Nihl said that he will go deal with her.

Krayt, "reborn" and more powerful than ever.

While on Korriban, Darth Nihl searched for Darth Talon in the Valley of the Sith Lords. As Darth Nihl continue to trail Darth Talon, Talon, further down in the valley spoke to Darth Krayt, who is revealed to be resurrected and, the Yuuzhan Vong implants have disappeared. Darth Krayt told her that she was her faithful servant and that the rebirth has begun and all will be as he has foreseen.

Darth Nihl finally caught up with Darth Talon and Krayt and engaged in a brief duel with Talon. However, Darth Krayt interrupted the duel with a Force push towards Nihl. He then told Nihl that he understand that Nihl craved power as it was the Sith way. He then told him and Talon to follow him. Deep underground Korriban Darth Krayt revealed to both of them that he was creating a Sith army or loyal soldiers called Sith Troopers who would obey him at every command as he demonstrated with one of the soldiers to kill himself. He also revealed that he was creating a new type of starfighters called Annihilators with the power to destroy a star destroyer.

Afterward, Darth Krayt reached out with the Dark side of the Force and sent a wave towards all the Sith in the galaxy that he has returned.

War

Darth Krayt, now with Darth Talon, Nihl and his Sith troopers traveled to Courscant to take his rightful place as the ruler of the Sith. He later battled his former servant, Darth Wyyrlok and after a brief battle, he killed him. After the battle, he also removed Morish Veed as Regent and allow him his old position back. Krayt then declared war to the galaxy by attacking different parts of galaxy.

Thanks to the interrogation done by Darth Havok to the Imperial Knight, Antares Draco, Krayt knew the location of the hidden Jedi Temple on Taivas and launched an attack. It would appear that both the Jedi, Emperor Fel and Admiral Gar Stazi laid a trap for Krayt's troops however, Krayt unleashed his Sith Troopers which changed the outcome of the battle. The allied forces were forced to retreat.

Krayt's final duel with Cade.

In one desperate plan, the allied forces decided to take the final fight to Courscant where Darth Krayt awaited. Cade Skywalker led the attack to sabotage the orbital defense system of Courscant, and went to confront Darth Krayt. Soon after Skywalker subdued Darth Talon, Cade launched an attack on Krayt. As the battle continued, Krayt revealed to Skywalker that he had achieved the power that Skywalker had to come back to life from the brink of death. Krayt then showed Skywalker a vision of the future of him falling to the Dark side. He then revealed his knowledge that Roan Fel plan on releasing the omega red virus on Courscant however, it would prove to be ineffective to the Sith and would only effect other living beings on the planet. Unfortunately, Cade did not agree with Krayt's plan and quickly struck the dark lord in the heart with his lightsaber.

Cade knew that it would not be the end of Krayt, as Krayt was already entering in his mind, and decided to take a shuttle and fly himself and the body of Krayt into the sun. Cade was determined to kill himself in order for Krayt to transfer his mind into Skywalker's body, but due to the intervention of Skywalker's ancestor, Luke Skywalker, Cade was convinced to escape the ship before it was consumed into the sun. Krayt's body was destroyed.

Power and Abilities

As a Jedi, A'Sharad Hett was known to be a skilled swordsman, practicing wielding two lightsabers called Jar'Kai. As a padawan, he was able to defeat Aurra Sing, a dangerous bounty hunter known for killing Jedi. Hett managed to hold his own against Obi-Wan Kenobi, but was still defeated. As Darth Krayt, despite his advanced age and declining health, Krayt still could manage his own. When Krayt was resurrected, his skills possibly doubled.

Hett wielding two lightsabers in battle.

A'Sharad was also a talented Force user as a Jedi, he was known to be skilled in telekinesis. He was also had some knowledge of Force healing. As Darth Krayt, was proficient in Force lightning. He also learned many different Sith techniques to prolong his life. After being resurrected, Krayt claimed that his Force powers had multiplied. He was able to heal his body from his Vong implants. He also learned Cade's ability to heal from the blink of death, along with mind transfer.